China on Philippines' case: Friends do not sue

MANILA, Philippines — As long as disputes can be settled outside court, filing cases are not an option in Chinese and Filipino cultures.

This is according to China's position paper on the territorial row with its Southeast Asian neighbor, explaining why the Asian giant took offense at the United Nations arbitration sought by the Philippines.

"For the Chinese people, to avoid lawsuit is part of the Chinese culture and tradition. And the Philippine people also value friendship and good faith," Chinese Embassy in Manila spokesman Zhang Hua said in the statement issued Thursday.

Read: China's position paper on sea disputes with Philippines

"We see every reason for both sides to sit down and resolve problems through negotiations instead of taking the issue to court," he added.

In its lengthy official declaration, China said its ties with the Philippines are much deeper than the tension wrought by the long-standing maritime rivalry.

"Territorial and maritime disputes are not the entirety of the China-Philippines relationship. The underlying trend of this relationship remains good-neighborliness and friendship," Zhang said.

China also lamented how the Philippines gave up on bilateral talks, saying that the resort to arbitration is "not conducive" to the closure of the row.

"[Arbitration] will not change the fact that China has sovereignty over the Nansha (Kalayaan) Islands, nor will it shake China's will and resolve to safeguard its national sovereignty," Zhang said.

He added that former President Corazon Aquino and former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping wanted to pursue joint development of the potentially oil-rich maritime zones. In 2010, however, the Philippines unilaterally dropped negotiations.

Zhang said that the Philippines did not act on China's proposal for regular consultations on overlapping claims.

"The Philippine side indicated that it would study the proposal, but has since given no reply ... The Chinese side has found it very hard to understand why," the spokesman said.

He said that China was still keen on having diplomatic exchanges, but the Philippines said it has "exhausted other peaceful means" to justify the international case it lodged.

The Embassy's position paper claims that China recovered the Spratlys group from Japanese forces in 1946, but the Philippines did not object on the move for several decades.

"It was only after oil reserves were discovered in the 1970s in the waters surrounding the Nansha Islands that the Philippines began to claim sovereignty ... and send troops to occupy some of the islands and reefs," Zhang said.

The Philippines argues that the waters and islands are well within its 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone as stated in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. It also controls some of the contested territories such as Pag-asa Islands.

China, however, said that geographical proximity does not entail ownership.

"Many countries in the world possess territories far away from their mainland or closed to other countries. All countries, big or small, should abide by the rules and stick to the truth," Zhang said.

He also insisted that the Philippines started the provocations at sea and sought trouble.